"Our country and the United States will be more secure," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, launching the first rhetorical salvo.

Russia wasted no time firing back, according to the AP:

The system to be based in Poland lacks "any target other than Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles," [Russia's Foreign Ministry] said in a statement, contending the U.S. system "will be broadened and modernized."

"Missile defense, of course, is aimed at no one," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice countered. "It's also the case that when you threaten Poland, you perhaps forget that it is not 1988. It's 2008 and the United States has a... firm treaty guarantee to defend Poland's territory as if it was the territory of the United States. So it's probably not wise to throw these threats around."